Bless You, Mr. Choo!

Well, it sure is a cause for celebration. Good shoes always are. They were expensive with a capital E. Not the stuff a broke writer goes for. But indulgence is the spice of life. Besides, I fell in love with them the moment I saw them. And what I love more is the fact that an identical pair of shoes, in green, is featured in this month's Vogue. I am just looking for the perfect occasion to wear these. I tried them at the shop and they were superbly comfortable. I think the trip to Goa will be it. These would be perfect with a dress I covet. More on that later. For now, I have to keep these away from Mr. Scrabble, or as hubby puts it, they will be known as "Scrabble Chewed". The very thought gives me shudders.



In retrospective, it's only fair that my biggest indulgence so far has been a pair of shoes. Having been born and brought up in Agra, there were shoes aplenty while I was growing up. Dad would get me these lovely ankle-length boots and leather pumps. There was a brief, forgettable affair with uggs, though Marie Janes remained good friends. The only problem was color. You could have any shoe as long as it was black. You can see how that posed a problem. Suede too was not my scene, as I wasn't particularly careful with my shoes. But that was then, and this is now. What a lovely red!



Oh, and did you know that Jimmy Choo made his first shoe when he was barely 11 years old! Now there is a guy who knows his heels. So many women love him. Bless you, Mr. Choo!

Shoes Make My Life - Shoe Art

I got this forwarded email some time back that claimed to show, allegedly, Japanese women’s shoes. Most uncomfortable, as you can see. The problem is, these are no Japanese shoes, they are “fetish shoes”. Whatever little credibility the email forward would have expected was instantly lost when it claimed “foot binding” as a Japanese practice.



It seems that there are enough in the world obsessed with shoes. Take me, for instance. When I was growing up in Agra, my father was a legal advisor to a number of shoes designing and manufacturing units. So there was never a dearth of the most fashionable heels in the house. Even now, my heart beats for shoes, all kinds of shoes. So you can understand my excitement when it comes to the topic of shoes art. Not always wearable, it has many forms. Some artists use shoes as 3D canvases, creating art around them. One such artist is London based Jethro Haynes, who creates, among other things, sculptures from sneakers.


Jethro Haynes' Shoe Art

A lasting image in my head is of Elsa Schiaparelli’s Monkey Fur Shoes. Intriguingly grotesque, they reflect her quirky style, and yes, I would never, ever wear them!


Elsa Schiaparelli’s Shoes

When it comes to wearability, nothing beats the designs and colors of customsnkr.com I love their Marge sneakers.


Marge sneakers from customsnkr.com

But no one mixes quirky and wearable like maverick designer Manish Arora. He has created women’s shoe collection 'Fish Fry' for Reebok India. The collection has 12 designs made of stylist leather, suede and specialized fabric suitable to match with designer clothes for special occasion.


Manish Arora's stylish designs for Reebok

For a stylish foot forward, I love the designs of Toronto-based graffitist Matthieu Missaen. He handcrafts his shoes under the label Ndeur. His line includes soaring pumps and high-tops and are fashioned using a canvas of vintage leather footwear, on which he doodles street-art-inspired scenes with oil-based paints.


Matthieu Missaen helps women put a stylish foot forward

College Chronicles

My college year as a professor is over. I taught at HR College for two years. I had been teaching Advertising Basics to the students of B. Com First Year Ad Batch. It was an interesting stint, and I would have loved to continue, but my new job leaves me with no time for anything else.

In my two years as a professor, I got a chance to observe, and interact with, young students. It really added to my learning of human behavior. I guess I learned far more from them than they learned from me. I might not go back next year to teach, but would love to get such a chance in the future. I took a few photographs a few months back and hadn’t really had a chance to post them. These are two of my young students. Some of you have seen the young man in a previous post, Gangsta Rap. He has cleaned up his act since then. The young lady is a budding creatives person and seems to have a bright future in the industry.